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Ristolainen — named a tournament all-star and its best defenceman — pulled across the crease of Sweden goalie Oscar Dansk and potted a backhander that left the sold-out Malmo Arena stunned, except for a handful of Finnish fans, gleeful at beating their Nordic rival.

Ristolainen skated down the ice, tossed his helmet and pounded his chest at the thought of winning Finland’s first gold, and third ever, since a victory at home in 1998.

Canada comes home from the world junior hockey championship empty-handed, fourth-place finishers for the second year in a row.

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“We’ll get through this,” said defenceman Matt Dumba. “You’re not losing a family member, or any hardship. At the end of the day, you’ve got to come away from the tournament and not be too hard on ourselves.”

The Canadian result marked the first back-to-back medal-less ventures for the country since 1979-81 and the first time it has happened since Hockey Canada took over the national junior team through its Program of Excellence in 1982.

“It’s disappointing,” said top Canadian centre Jonathan Drouin, who lost to Russia last year in the bronze-medal game. “Every country is good. You can’t start a game down 1-0, like we did throughout the tournament.”

Mikhail Grigorenko, on loan from the Buffalo Sabres, and Eduard Gimotov scored in the first period of a Canada-Russia game that was devoid of emotion until Josh Morrissey scored with 12:50 to go in the third period.

“We’re really happy we beat Canada,” said Grigorenko. “It’s a special feeling.”

Maybe it was because neither team truly cared about bronze — these were two proud hockey-playing countries more used to battling for gold.

Maybe it was that both teams played gruelling games on Saturday and were a bit tired. Canada had only a few hours’ rest after a 5-1 loss to Finland on Saturday evening.

Maybe expectations are simply too high, because as Canadian coach Brent Sutter said after the loss to Finland, hockey “isn’t just Canada’s game anymore.”

Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s director of hockey operations, said the program would be re-evaluated but that he didn’t expect an overhaul.

“We have work to do. We need to look at our program, how we do things and try to get better,” said Salmond. “Other countries are getting better. We have to get better.”

One thing Canada can be happy with is that up to 11 team members can return next year, including goalie Zach Fucale, who is not to be blamed for any of the losses. Only Germany, with 13 potential returnees, has more.

Canada might fret about a lack of help from NHL teams. Only the Minnesota Wild sent a tournament-eligible player — Dumba. The Maple Leafs held on to Morgan Rielly, the Colorado Avalanche held on to Nathan MacKinnon and the Calgary Flames kept Sean Monahan.

Other countries were in the same boat: Finland was without its two best players, Alexander Barkov of the Florida Panthers and Olli Maatta of the Pittsburgh Penguins; Russia was without Valeri Nichuskin of the Dallas Stars.

And how good would the U.S. have been with Seth Jones (Nashville) and Alex Galchenyuk (Montreal)?

Germany beat Norway 3-1 to avoid relegation. The Germans took a risk in this tournament, bringing the event’s youngest team with 13 18-year-olds on its roster. That means Germany can bring a team with the most experience back next year when the tournament is co-hosted by Toronto and Montreal.

Denmark, winners in December of the second-tier under-20 tournament, will replace Norway in the top group.

NOTES: Canada’s Anthony Mantha was named to the world junior all-star team — as voted by media — along with goalie Juuse Saros (Finland), defencemen Nikita Zadorov (Russia) and Ristolainen, and forwards Teuvo Teravainen (Finland) and Filip Forsberg (Sweden). . . . Forsberg was also named tournament MVP and top forward. Sweden’s Dansk was named best goalie and Ristolainen best defenceman in voting by IIHF officials. . . . The tournament set a European attendance record (453,282 for the 31 games).

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